The Annex is one of Toronto's oldest neighbourhoods and its first streetcar suburb, characterized by its distinctive tall narrow houses, and lively community along Bloor Street. Considered a food and shopping mecca, this district is well known by Torontonians as one of the friendliest neighbourhoods in the city. Due to the proximity of the neighbourhood to the University of Toronto and Central Technical School with it's famous art school The Art Centre - there is a large population of students and faculty, the commercial strip along Bloor Street has quite the feel of a college neighbourhood albeit an affluent one. Most of the commercial activity in the neighbourhood takes place along Bloor St, which is filled with small restaurants, pubs and bookshops. The side streets are mostly residential, with long, narrow townhouses to the south of Bloor and large, stately mansions to the north. The borders of the neighbourhood are, to some extent, debatable, however, less so than many other neighbourhoods in the city. The eastern and western boundaries are generally agreed to be Avenue Road and Bathurst Street respectively and the southern boundary is generally agreed to be Harbord Street. The northern boundary is, however, in question. Generally, the northern boundary is considered to be Dupont Street, due to the fact that the area immediately north of Dupont, on either side of the railway tracks, is a largely industrial area, which is not in keeping with the general view of the Annex as being a neighbourhood of stately homes and quaint bookshops. However, for the purposes of this article, the neighbourhood is considered to extend right up to the Nordheimer Ravine in the north, immediately south of St Clair Avenue.
